With Sahara parting ways, IPL auction loses lustre

The impact of Sahara India's decision to part ways with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and withdraw from the Indian Premier League (IPL) was clearly visible during the 2012 players' auction.

Apart from a few big players, most of the players were unable to find bidders. Sahara has been the main sponsor of Team India's since the last 11 years. The decision, which came as rude shock to many, can severely dent brand IPL. After the infamous Modi saga and Kochi impasse, Sahara's exit from 'all kinds of relationships' with the BCCI will severely effect Indian cricket in general and players in particular.In a statement Sahara stated: "Now after an 11-year journey as sponsors, we can say with surety that cricket has become very rich. Many rich people are there to support cricket with a strong will to do so. So, with absolute peace of mind we can exit from cricket under BCCI and are now exiting with a heavy heart. It was an emotional decision for us to start this sponsorship but our emotions were never appreciated and many genuine situations were not given due consideration at all. We are withdrawing from all cricket under BCCI."The confusion among the BCCI top brass and IPL franchisees was clearly visible during the press conference after the end of the first round of auction. None of the officials, including new IPL chief Rajiv Shukla, was able to give any convincing answer to journalist’s queries.